The now-annual release of Duels of the Planewalkers includes new cards.
My resurgent love of Magic was made possible by Duels of the Planeswalkers. The sleek version of the collectible card game made for XBLA in 2009 gave me the sweet taste of cardboard crack I needed to start trading the paper game for reals. Wizards of the Coast followed up the breakout success with Duels 2012, a version on PlayStation and a PC release on Steam. This year, Duels 2013 spreads its tendrils to the iPad and offers manual mana tapping for the hardcore nerd in all of us. Duels of Planeswalkers 2013 comes out on June 20th, 2012.
In Duels 2013, expect the general gameplay to be the same as Magic. Your deck of cards is pit against an opponent’s, and you each draw them to summon monsters and cast spells. This year, new wrinkles include the Planechase multiplayer format and the ability to manually tap the lands you want. Previously, this was handled automatically, which could lead to not having the correct type of mana at the ready.
There are still set decks, and the design of your combination of cards isn’t as infinite as the card game. You have to play the meatspace game or Magic Online for that. Still, if you’re interested in Magic and can’t find anyone to teach you, Duels 2013 does a great job of getting you up to speed on the concepts and strategies of the game.
And for the hardcore Magic fans in the office like Josh Vandewall – who writes our Hexproof column on all things Magic – downloading Duels 2013 is a great way to preview cards coming in the next set from Wizards of the Coast.
If you’re excited about Magic and live in the southeast U.S., you might want to think about heading to the Escapist Expo to trade cards with Professional Magic player John Finkel – yes, that John Finkel.
